With regards to the Parklane MDR-TB cybercafe outbreak, the TB Control Unit and MOH had written up a report a year ago, and it is apparent from the write-up (I was involved in the molecular epidemiology aspect of the MDR-TB isolates) that the officials had experienced considerable difficulty with contact investigations perhaps due to the unusual social circumstances. Ultimately, one of several important long-term approaches to TB control is to educate the public and remove all stigma from this infectious disease. If TB patients are willing to name all their close contacts, and even go the extra step of actively telling these contacts to come for TB screening, we will certainly be able to reduce the transmission of TB gradually in the long run. One part of destigmatization has to do with ensuring job security – from the Today report, we can only sympathise with the young man who had to quit his job because of the side effects of MDR-TB treatment. Hence TB control is not just dependent on the government, but should also involve active participation from the community, healthcare services and businesses.

I include an excerpt from the video interview we conducted of Prof Sonny Wang, longstanding TBCU director, last year for the SG50 Infectious Diseases project. His insights of MDR-TB are worth noting, particularly his grim prognosis that the current programme of TB control would fail if MDR-TB became the predominant form of TB in our population.